Animal Birthdays

We would like to thank our many visitors who help us celebrate our animals' birthdays. The keepers love decorating our animals' homes for the occasion, the animals' love their treats and the guests have proven that they love to sing "Happy Birthday." Though we can't celebrate all the animals' birthdays, we do celebrate a whole bunch.

Please note: All parties go from 1 to 3 p.m., with a "Happy Birthday" song and treats for the birthday animal at 2 p.m. There will also be a docent-run touch table station available at each birthday party.

2015 Animal Birthdays:

Animal

Name(s)

Date (all Saturdays)

North American river otter

Heather, Sara

February 28

Bornean orangutan

Bella

April 25

Amur tiger

Anastasia, Katya

May 23

Snow leopard

Kaba, Princess

June 13

California Sea Lion

Lily, Marina, P.J.

June 27

White rhino

Bill

August 29

African lion

Asha, Chester, Zuri

September 5

Polar bear

Aurora, Zero

October 31

African elephant

Genny C, Lilac

November 14

If you would like to bring a gift to the party please do so. Our animals can always use:

Unopened spices / herbs

Sugar-free Jello

Unopened boxes of low-fat cereal

Flavored low-sugar oatmeal

Perfumes / colognes

Flavored treats (peppermint, molasses, butterscotch)

Pinatas

Sandwich-sized paper bags

Ice Cream Cones (all sizes)

Do some of these gift requests sound strange? Let us explain...

While some of the enrichment items we ask for may not be used by the guest of honor of that particular party, the items are used by other animals that don't have a party. For example, the tigers (and cats in general) enjoy the spices and perfumes. Keepers use the spices and perfumes to add new smells to their enclosures. The tigers come out and mark over the smells to cover it up or they roll around in it to get it on them. Cats like scents that are very strong so the smellier the perfume the better!